How much did Facebook pay to acquire WhatsApp in 2014 (in billions)?

Facebook paid $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp in 2014.

Facebook announced the deal on February 19, 2014, making it the company’s largest acquisition at the time. The purchase price was structured as $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and $3 billion in restricted stock units for WhatsApp’s founders and employees.

The price was striking because WhatsApp had a relatively small team and had been valued at about $1.5 billion in a venture-capital funding round the previous year. Facebook was buying rapid global growth and a hugely popular mobile messaging network. The acquisition also sparked concern among users about privacy and independence, although WhatsApp initially continued operating as a separate service. In 2021, Facebook’s parent company was renamed Meta Platforms, but the historical buyer in this 2014 deal was Facebook, Inc.